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My dearly beloved eggs may be history?? :( Noooooo!!

06-23-2011, 06:33 PM

I've been having more and more GI issues over the last couple of months - both stomach and guts. I eliminated flaxmeal and flaxseeds, and at first it seemed they were the culprit. I've been eliminating and slowly adding other foods back in as well- in an attempt to isolate triggers of sinus headaches that always led to migraines.

Much to my total disappointment, my GI issues have calmed down 95% after a few days of consuming zero eggs. I hadn't touched dairy in a while and was fine without it, but until I stopped the egg consumption, still had the GI issues. It seems like hard boiled eggs were the worst troublemakers, but cooked eggs caused a little bit of a ruckus, too. I was a most faithful lover of the awesome egg scramble and omelet, and quiches and custard-y types of foods are heaven in my book.

Is there any hope for me? I'm hoping there is some enzyme I can take or something I can do to be able to eat my eggs! They were a huge source of my protein intake and I am not going to be able to replace them with meat alone. The eggs I was eating were the cleanest, most organic there are, I believe, so I highly doubt it was the quality of the eggs themselves.

Any idea if I may still be able to eat the baked items I love (using coconut, almond flour, etc.)?

I'd love some input from anyone who has issues with eggs. I'm hoping and praying that there's hope.....Please help.

Life is not a matter of having good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.

If you started having issues with eggs after consuming heavy amounts of them and the issues went away when you cut back on them you might just be dealing with a temporary reaction. Avoid them fully for about a month and then add them back in. From the sound of it you'll want to completely avoid eating them at the same levels you recently were though.

"You can demonstrate the purpose and limits of human digestion with a simple experiment: eat a steak with some whole corn kernels, and see what comes out the other end. It won’t be the steak."
-J.Stanton

Comment

I have GI issues and found in the case of eggs, that it was the egg whites which I couldn't tolerate. The yolks and all the yummy things you can make with them (custards etc) are fine. Other foods which trigger my issues which you might try testing are: Coconut oil, Coconut milk, too many nuts, gluten, dairy, alfalfa sprouts, quinoa, soy and chilis.

If you find you cannot tolerate eggs in any form, you can substitute the following for baking:
1/4 cup applesauce, pumpkin or banana. Can add a pinch of baking powder. or;
2T Arrowroot flour; or;
2 dried apricots, soaked then pureed.

Comment

Me too. I've suspected for years that I had a problem with eggs but my digestion was so completely mucked up, I couldn't really pinpoint one thing. Now that I'm off grains I feel so much better that it's pretty obvious that I have a problem with them. I thought it was dairy since I eat them cooked in butter but I cut the dairy for a month and ate all my eggs cooked in coconut oil or bacon fat and I had the same problems. Bummer. Scrambled eggs cooked in butter are just so delicious but I'm thinking now they should be an every now and then treat.

Comment

Eggs are one of the top food allergens. Your quick and dirty elimination diet told you almost instantly that you have a problem with eggs. Now the question is what part of the egg? Some people are allergic to egg white proteins and can eat the yolk. Me? I'm allergic to the yolk -- but lucky for me, only chicken egg yolks, so I substitute duck, goose and quail. Luckily for you (statistically speaking) most people have allergies to the white, not the yolk, which is the really good part of the egg.

So -- go for at least 14 days egg free to clear all of the potential allergens out of your system. Then test the egg white only. Test by having a big egg white omelette for lunch (cook in an oil you know is okay and don't add anything else. Just egg whites.) See how you react -- does your heart beat faster, to you get a flush, do you get a stomach ache, intestinal problems? If you feel okay, have a second challenge of egg whites with dinner. Then monitor how you feel for the next two to three days (long enough for the egg whites to completely pass through your system.) Keep the rest of your diet pretty much the same during this time, so as not to introduce many other variables into the test.

Now, you have half of your answer. Repeat the test with egg yolk only. You might use hard-boiled eggs and eat only the yolks for this test, as it is hard to separate the yolks completely from the whites while the egg is raw.

You will also need to test duck eggs or any other substitute egg in a similar manner.

There are some egg substitutes out there -- most involve flax seed/oils and I've never tried them. I have used egg white plus soy lecithin (about 1 tb. lecithin per egg white) as an egg substitute in baking, but we don't bake much Primal-style (except for almond flour or coconut flour muffins.)

You might also check out Scott Mumby's book Diet Wise -- best elimination diet book I've come across. Of course, many highly allergenic foods are not on the Primal Diet, so you are ahead there. The big ten allergenic foods do include primal foods such as eggs, tree nuts, shell fish, celery, and sesame. You can be allergic to any food. I hope you have a mild allergy to eggs, or can substitute duck eggs!

If you are allergic, you should go at least six months before re-testing to see if the allergy has lessened or disappeared. Some people can resume eating foods after six months, sometimes a takes a year or two, and sometimes never. Everyone is different.

Comment

DKD - great and very helpful answer. I eat eggs nearly daily (LOVE them!), but I have a lot of problems and issues. One of my main symptoms (most I believe are related to my thyroid issues) is tingly, pins and needles feeling in feet, hands, and lower arms. I have noticed it seems more pronounced after eggs but am dreading the possibility of giving them up. The elimination protocol you outline is super helpful for whenever I do decide to give it a go. Thanks!